Chapter 1

AN: Hi Everyone! I'm back with a breezy romance before the next epic (About ten chapters; that's light and breezy for me). Hope you all enjoy...

He had to give it to the other man; he was handsome. In fact, there was no other man in the entire tech sector more handsome than Gavin Richards. Tall, blond, sophisticated—he was ideal in every sense of the word. Kind of reminded him a little bit of Malibu Ken, except with a ponytail. All the women he knew liked this man. Even Prentiss had mentioned how gorgeous he was and she usually had good taste in men.

As for his best friend, Penelope had spent many hours drooling after this paragon of manhood; she'd even told him that she'd had a dream of him riding up in shining armor, removing his helmet, and then shaking his head.

"With his long, blond locks flowing behind him," Penelope had gushed.

Derek thought the man was a douche.

Really, Gavin wasn't all that he was cracked up to be. He bit his fingernails, sucked at the racquetball court, and had to stop and catch his breath on the five mile run when he was at the track. To top it off, Derek had kicked his ass numerous times in friendly hand to hand combat. All new FBI employees could sign up for lessons; Gavin had picked Derek's class...

Albeit, to give the guy some credit, he had seemed rather nice.

"What is it about that guy?" Derek asked, eating a bite of salad. "I haven't seen you drool over a guy like this since—"

"Since you?" she teased, taking a bite of her own salad.

He laughed and pointed his fork at her. "Touche."

"Besides the fact that he is Prince Charming come to life, the pinocle of what every little girl wants, the man Brad freaking Pitt wants to emulate?" she added with as much drama as she could.

Derek rolled his eyes.

She ignored him and continued, "He is also the sweetest, kindest, funniest man out there. He takes time for me, treats me like I am the best person in the world."

"You are," he said honestly.

She rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. "Of course you'd say that."

"I didn't lie, now did I?" he teased as usual.

She looked up at him, her heart in her eyes. "Hot Stuff...I think he's the one."

Derek frowned. "What?"

"I...I have never really felt like this before," she said, and then laughed. "Well, I thought I did with you, but that's different; I was obviously mistaken. Besides, you have Deanna."

He'd been dating Deanna Blakely for three months now. It was going okay. She was really nice, and he planned on bringing her home to Chicago over the next vacation. But this...this gave him pause. He hadn't had a clue Pen had felt like that about him. He'd known she loved him, but as a friend. He'd had quite the killer crush on her for awhile, too.

Still did, if he was being honest with himself.

"What about Lynch?" he asked.

"We're history now," she said quickly.

His brow furrowed in concern. "You okay?"

She nodded. "We never really were much of a match, D. You know that."

"Yeah," he answered. Those two had made a terrible couple. No matter how he'd tried, he could never picture Penelope and Kevin together. They were incompatible: like sauerkraut and peanut butter. "Good riddance. On to bigger and better things."

"Well, I would..."

He watched as her cheeks colored, and knew she'd hit a road block. "I sense a but..."

"But Kevin dumped me, not the other way around." She looked down at the ground before continuing, "He said I would make a better friend."

"After four years of hot romance?" Derek asked incredulously.

"Not so hot." She shrugged sadly. "And while I like Gavin, he only sees me as a friend."

"Really," he answered flatly.

She nodded, and he could see her bottom lip go out. "I don't know what's wrong with me, Morgan. I want him. I tease and flirt, but he thinks that's all it is. I..I..." She shook her head and looked away. "Never mind."

Derek felt his heart constrict in his chest, thinking he knew what she was going to say. She was a gorgeous woman who could have any man she wanted, if she put her mind to it. This really bothered him.

He reached his arms out and pulled her close. "What, baby? You can tell me, you know that, right?"

She looked up at him with the biggest, saddest, most beautiful brown eyes he'd ever seen, and said, "I don't know how to make him see that this isn't a tease. I don't know how to seduce him—and I want to—but all he will ever see me as is a buddy."

Deep down, Derek cringed. He'd had that same problem with her shortly after he'd met her. Not that he hadn't been attracted; he had been, and he still was. But her vibrant personality, teasing demeanor, and self-depreciating, yet flirtatious, manner led him to not take her seriously. Now he wondered if she was doing the same thing with this Gavin...and if she had felt the same things for him at one time, too.

That was silly. They were not a pair—definitely not. After six years—almost seven—they would've gotten together by now if they were meant to. He would've known.

"Well," he began. "What have you been doing with him?"

"Working on the computers, laughing, having a good time." She shrugged and smiled. "The usual stuff."

"What kind of stuff are you saying, honey?" he asked cautiously.

"I don't know... kind of like the stuff I do with you," she answered, looking thoughtful. "I mean, I say things like, 'Hey, good looking' and all that." She shrugged again. "You know."

He had a slight pang in his chest, one that he immediately ignored, when she mentioned she did the same stuff with Gavin that she'd done with him. For some reason, he didn't like to think of her flirting away with some other man...or, heaven forbid, some other man being her Hot Stuff.

He actually shuddered at that thought.

Always perceptive, Penelope must've noticed the shudder. "D, you all right?" she asked.

"Fine, sweets."

"I just wish I had the ability to really seduce a man," she said with a sigh. She looked at him and huffed.

He patted her arm. "You do..."

"No, not like you," she said with a laugh. "I mean, you have all the skills. You tease and flirt, and you know exactly how to go and get women to look at you and immediately want to fall into bed."

His eyebrows shot up. "Were you included in that?"

She gave him a look of exasperation. "Hells, yes, silly man! Every woman wants to fall into your bed."

He laughed. "I never really thought that you..."

His voice trailed off when he looked at her, looked at the hurt look on her face.

"I know," she said. "That's my fault."

"No, baby—"

"Because you only saw me as a friend, too." Her bleak expression broke his heart.

He backpedaled as fast as he could. "P, that ain't—"

"Oh, come on, Derek!" she interrupted. "You've never lied to me before; don't start now." Her eyes welled up, and she looked away from him. "I've told you before; I'm not the kind of girl that men see across smoky bars and write songs about."

"Baby Girl, I'm not lying," he said, trying to soothe some of the pain she was feeling. "Honey, you are a beautiful, desirable, confident woman—"

She snorted, but he ignored her.

"—who doesn't see that in herself when it really counts. Believe me when I tell you: There were lots of reasons I didn't see you that way, but it had nothing to do with your looks."

He watched her, watched as he saw her reach for her napkin and dabbed her eyes, watched as the sadness crossed her face again, watched as she struggled to smile. It was breaking his heart; he couldn't make this better, and he wanted to, desperately.

"Then what is it, Derek?" she asked, her nose a little red from tears. "If it isn't my looks."

"P, you got it going on."

She scoffed and blew her nose. "Sure."

He reached across the table and held her hand. "Woman, I still think you are very hot."

She groaned. "D—"

"But you are right; you don't know how to seduce a man with less than a tease," he said. The next part that came out shocked him more than it probably shocked her. "And I'm going to show you how to do it right—by having you practice on me."